Q (Question): In the beginning of 2018 you said that you have started the process of switching on the newest version of Unity and that you have support from the Unity developers themselves. Can you please tell how far are you at the moment, what have you done already and what are the pros of new Unity?

A (Answer): We are actually not very active in that direction right now, we analyzed the possibilities, new Unity can provide a lot of new interesting stuff which will help us make our game better from many perspectives: from optimization to simplifying the game development. But we haven't made any major moves in that direction yet because our primary mission right now is patch 0.10, our technical patch. OBT is around the corner as well, we have to deal with all that before we switch to the newer version of Unity.

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Q: Is it possible to make it so character skills are linked to character level: for example, on level 10 you can have maximum level 5 strength and that's it, so to reach strength level 51 you would need character level 100?

A: There was already a suggestion to limit skill level by character level. It can be done but currently we can't say if we will 100% do it. Not a "yes", not a "no".

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Q: When can we expect the release of new EFT books?

A: New books are already written and are currently in redaction. Next book will be most likely the sequel to "Predator" by Kontorovich. When? We will try our best to make it faster although our main priority is the game itself.

A: As i have stated in my recent post, we plan to add using items animations, but not sure when as it is a huge and impactfull feature, which requires testing, adjusting and polishing, so it may be not included in the next patch. But generally speaking, everything, that u can use in game, literally everything, will have its own animation. Even Vaseline. And all the food: crackers, tushonka (stew beef), milk. Basically EVERYTHING. Some kind of madness we are dragging ourselves into but we will see what happens.

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Q: Weapons in EFT consist of many pieces. Will weapon's overall durability be summarized out of its separate pieces’ durability?

A: Yes, every weapon part will have its own separate durability, but that's in the future.

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Q: Game currently have several traders in it. Do you plan to change how repairing gear works, linking not only "quality of repair/price" to a trader but also a type of gear: Prapor repairs only guns, Skier - Equipment, Mechanic - guns as well, but better quality and bigger price., Ragman - equipment but better quality and bigger price?

A: Well, this is regarding modifying the repairing system. When we will have separate repairing of silencers and armor plates, in other words, when repair system will be more developed, maybe we will make something like you suggested, so every trader will repair single type of gear exclusively.

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Q: Will there be an ability to transfer items between players ingame, from hands to hands without dropping items on the ground? This would fasten and simplify player interaction a lot.

A: We have this planned in the future. This is connected to the interactions between players: healing other player, giving items to other players and so on, so I think that this more likely will be implemented.

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Q: Tell us more about Flee market (Rag fair), what would it look like?

A: Flee market is a system that allows every player, when he hits a certain level, to put his items on sale. So you can put on sale any item in any amount and request certain items, that you have examined, in exchange (examined items will be included in the Codex). Number of your offers is limited, you can increase it by increasing your Trading skill. Every player will have a trading reputation which will provide certain bonuses. And most importantly – Flee market will have Advanced Search that will help to find, for example, certain weapon mods, ammo etc. There will be a convenient cataloging of all goods. Also, every trade will affect the market price of an item traded, so prices will become dynamic, market will regulate itself.

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Q: What challenges do you face during bugfixing? Which percentage of bug reports in you bugtracker is actually helpfulll?

A: There are a lot of bug reports and all the players sending them are good people! They provide a lot of information and it becomes much easier to fix a bug. Percentage of helpful reports is very high, about 30%. The hardest thing while fixing a bug is that sometimes to fix even insignificant issue, we have to rewrite half of a game and it is very hard but important to do it so it doesn’t break other stuff. Also when we have to urgently fix something, other priorities suffer.

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Q: Is it possible to make it so during raid maximum health of each limb depletes with every heal, just like with armor right now?

A: Definitely a hardcore feature, but no necessity to implement it right now.

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Q: GIB MOSIN

A: We have all animations, sounds, models ready. Only thing obstructing its release is unfinished code for loading a gun bullet by bullet and a person responsible for this code is currently busy on improving network. But we hope to include Mosin in 0.10, chances are very high. First we will introduce rifle itself, then add some very interesting modifications for it.

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Q: Selling and buying stuff takes a lot of time currently. Will there be any kind of a system, allowing buy gear via some kind of preset?

A: Yes, we plan to improve it. We understand that buying all the gear and preparing for a raid is slow and tough process, that takes a lot of time so we plan to include presets of weapons and gear you can buy.

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Q: What happened to double-barreled shotgun? We saw it long ago and it is still not in game.

A: Same situation as with Mosin. Models and sounds are ready, we are finishing animations and loading bullet by bullet mechanic is not done yet.

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Q: Any bullpups planned?

A: Yes. We are not sure which ones will make it in to the game, most likely DT MDR, DSR-1, Groza.

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Q: Will there be 5.7x28 caliber?

A: Yes, we will have a 5-7 pistol and p90 for sure.

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Q: Will EFT be presented on Gamescom this year?

A: This year we decided to pass on Gamescom because we want to concentrate on patch 0.10 and get ready for OBT. We visited Gamescom 2 or 3 times already and it will be better if we will focus on developing this year and start showing EFT next year.

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Q: Is there any optimizations planned for sound engine?

A: If you mean enhancing directional sound, then yes, absolutely. Many stuff related to sound is not final yet and after switching on new Unity version we will improve it.

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Q: When will we see Flee Market and Auction?

A: First iteration of Flee Market is planned for 0.10. It will be fully functioning Rag fair but with some restrictions at first.

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Q: When will we see more western weapons, such as SCAR and HK416?

A: Both SCAR and HK416 will be in the game. HK416 is already modeled, attachments for it modelled, SCAR is currently in development.

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Q: Will there be realistic ragdoll physics?

A: Ragdoll is fully Unity’s feature. Right now we are fixing such issues as body shaking and limb stretching when being hit.

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Q: When can we expect clothes? The bottom and top customization you promised long ago?

A: This is a cosmetic feature. We would like to finish it faster as well, but if we would choose between more content or more fixes, we would definitely choose fixes. Although we have already finished a lot of tops and bottoms so most likely we will add customization in 2 patches. In other words, you will be able to buy new torso clothing and new leg clothing so you character can look more badass.

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Q: When will we see new skills and will Strength be reworked and rebalanced?

A: Some of the new skills we are planning to implement with 0.10. But again, we are currently focusing on fixes, not content. Strength will be most likely reworked.

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Q: Do you plan to add some variety to Scav’s behavior, add some randomness, like patrols, searching buildings, chatting with each other etc.

A: We would like very much to add variety so they will look more like humans, but this require more animations. But first we have to fix main issues and then we will improve AI and AI bosses. Patrol animation are already done, so Scavs won’t stick guns in each other’s faces, but lowered weapons instead. But this requires more work still.

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Q: Will you add HDR?

A: HDR is in the game by default. We use HDR rendering pipeline for a long time already. But in general, we plan to completely redo graphics, not soon, but we will take it to a new level. By the way we found a lot of interesting people regarding this topic, so I am sure we will return to graphics later.

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Q: Will there be an ability to climb walls and other obstacles?

A: To add parkour we will have to redesign all levels and locations. But we plan to introduce vaulting over small obstacles, like fences or road rails. But I wouldn’t want to introduce climbing a man-height walls.

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Q: Do you plan to expand key bindings? Some of the players are used to play using arrow keys, and create their own key layouts in general.

A: Yes, with 0.10 we plan to totally rework key binding. For example, it will be possible to set holding, double pressing, any kind of combinations – everything a player would like.

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Q: Do you plan a new design for Insurance UI?

A: Yes, we plan to create a special UI where you can see all your insurance returns and retrieve it fast and simple. This is one of the so called “Quality offline improvements” and it is currently a high priority for us. Not this patch but perhaps the next after it.

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Q: Will player Scavs have their own quests?

A: Our Scavengers concept includes procedurally generated of fast tasks out of context. This will be developed for Scav-boss gameplay or one his bodyguards (you will be able to play as boss or bodyguard) and then we will expand this on regular scavs as well. These will be simple tasks: “Find ammo”, “Kills someone and take his gear”, “Heal yourself” or just “extract”. Some everyday stuff.

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Q: Will there be face customization: hair, face, skin color?

A: EFT will offer you a choice of a premade heads (when starting a fresh account and after every wipe). Maybe for EoD players we will make an exclusive cool head.

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Q: When will OBT start and will it be open for everyone or only for some people?

A: We are working on it. A lot depends on patch 0.10 which have to drastically improve technical status of the game in terms of performance and bugs. We understand that we delayed OBT already, but we did it only to improve quality – it is very important, especially in a game like Escape From Tarkov. OBT won’t be open to everyone, it will be mildly open, yes, understand it as you want (laughs)

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Q: When can we expect LMGs?

A: We will introduce LMG with a Boss wielding it. But not soon. We haven’t modeled it yet and animations for LMGs are pretty complex.

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Q: Will there be an ability to hold weapon on the left side for left-handed operators?

A: Slight possibility. Main problem is that we would have to redo all animations specifically for left-handed operators.

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Q: Why won’t you make a thread to gather ideas for quests from the community?

A: Do not expect clan system anytime soon, because there have to be a lot more done before we make it. The system itself we plan to develop like this: It will be hierarchical, there will be a Clan Leader, Sales Representative, Deputy, everyone will have his own field of responsibility; there will be Clan Stash where you can change gear; maybe there will be clan quest system; rating.

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Q: Extra wide monitors support?

A: Yes, sometime

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Q: Do you plan to create special tools for community so people could use game information outside the game, create their own resources?

A: Yes, we plan to create special API which will allow players to create their own weapon/stat/etc. tables.

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Q: Do you plan to add online mode to play with friends?

A: We had a thought about creating peer-to-peer mode, where you would play with friends against scavs without keeping gear.

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Q: Do you plan to make a mobile app to get your insurance?

A: We will make an official companion app that will allow you not only chat, but do some stuff like get your insurance, reply to messages, trade etc. but not any time soon.

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Q: Do you plan to restrict ping limit even more to avoid ping-abuse?

A: Maybe.

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Q: Do you plan to make an ability to push player in a melee fight?

A: In the beginning we planned to make a kick a separate key. If we will manage to implement correctly ragdoll to knock off characters, then we will make such thing.

A: We have two options we are considering. Either more simplistic: where items in stash would just be textures not representing what you actually have. Or more complex: items you have in your stash will be displayed visually in your hideout but not exact amount, that’s for sure.

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And personally from Nikita Buyanov:

Right now we have a lot of work to do. We have to accomplish much more including things that are not in the game yet, including things that will greatly surprise you. Also we understand that you, community, is very concerned about technical state of the game and we are working on it, patch 0.10 is planned to release before the end of August. We want you to feel all the delights game has to offer and understand that this is not simply a game, but something more. We want you to see and love this game as we, the development team see it. Thanks everyone for your time. Bye everyone, see you.﻿